Site to be transformed into a state-of-the-art global headquarters.
Louisville, KY, August 21, 2020—Car Keys Express today announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to 12101 Sycamore Station Place, in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, effective August 11, 2020. The new facility offers over 100,000 square feet of space, enough to house all manufacturing, engineering, sales, marketing, customer service, retail, and executive management staff in one facility.
“When I founded Car Keys Express on my dining room table in my one-bedroom apartment in Louisville’s highlands, I never thought we’d grow to nearly 500 team members across North America” said Mark Lanwehr, Founder and CEO. “Once again, we’re faced with the bittersweet milestone of pulling up roots and moving to a location that allows space to fully employ our team’s proven creativity.”
A history of growth
Car Keys Express has been proud to call Louisville home for over fifteen years. During the early years, the business operated out of the founder’s apartment. They progressed to their first office in 2007, a 1500 sq ft lease located in Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood. From there they progressed into a lease of a 7,000 sq ft building in Butchertown, and finally, in 2013 they made their first purchase of a property in the East Market corridor, known as “NuLu”. The company later added two neighboring buildings. Over the past seven years, those NuLu facilities housed up to 175 employees, 25,000 square feet of manufacturing space, 20,000 square feet of administrative space, and over a million car keys.
The NuLu properties served them well, but with five straight years of double-digit growth, Car Keys Express needed dramatically more space to expand production facilities and support administrative staff. Their leadership team visited over a dozen downtown and NuLu expansion options over the last two years and made multiple above-market offers to maintain their NuLu footprint. Their neighbors share the same passion for NuLu and unfortunately, Car Keys Express was not able to find an economically viable solution nearby.
Lanwehr continued: “We moved to Nulu because we loved the vibe of the neighborhood. But, when Sycamore Station became available, we knew it was home. It’s enough space to continue hiring Louisvillians while dramatically expanding our manufacturing capacity. In short, it enables our extraordinary growth trajectory in the city we love. We’re committed to our community and look forward to the next chapter of the company’s history here in Louisville.”
About Car Keys Express
Car Keys Express is a global leader in discount, automotive key replacement for businesses and consumers. The company invented the world's first Universal Car Remote and Universal Car Keys and is the only company that manufactures a full line of aftermarket versions of modern car keys, like remote keys and smart keys. Car Keys Express offers a complete line of retail-friendly solutions to allow retailers to build a key replacement program or enhance an existing program. Car Care Express, a division of Car Keys Express, offers mobile vehicle reconditioning service for businesses and consumers. Founded in 2002, Car Keys Express is continually recognized for excellence in the industry, winning Inc. Magazine’s, “Inc. 5000” in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, AAPEX "Best New Product" Award in 2015 and 2019, EY Entrepreneur of the Year® for Manufacturing in 2017, and EnterpriseCorp’s FAST Innovation Award Winner in 2017, among others. To learn more, visit www.CarKeysExpress.com.
